The present invention relates to an individual plastic fastener and a needle for dispensing the same.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,039,078 to A. R. Bone, which is incorporated herein by reference, there are disclosed several different types of plastic fasteners, or attachments, which are fabricated as part of continuously connected ladder stock. In each instance, the ladder stock is formed from two elongated and continuous plastic side members coupled together by a plurality of plastic cross links, the cross links preferably being equidistantly spaced. The stock may be produced from flexible plastics material including nylon, polypropylene and other similar materials by molding or by stamping.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,039,078 to A. R. Bone discloses one embodiment of continuously connected ladder stock which, when cut, produces a plurality of individual fastener attachment devices (which are commonly referred to simply as fasteners). Each resulting fastener comprises a pair of end bars, preferably of the same length, which are coupled together by a thin filament. Each end bar of the fastener has an elongated cylindrical shape which is generally circular in lateral cross-section (such an end bar being commonly referred to as a xe2x80x9cT-barxe2x80x9d in the art).
The resulting fastener described above is well known in the art and is widely used in commerce to attach labels, price tags or other items to articles of purchase in a manner which minimizes the risk of inadvertent detachment therefrom.
However, it has been found that such plastic fasteners suffer from a drawback in design. Specifically, the elongated cylindrical shape of each end bar of the fastener detracts from the aesthetics of the article of purchase when dispensed therethrough, which is highly undesirable.
The dispensing of individual fasteners from fastener stock is often accomplished with an apparatus commonly referred to as a tagger gun. A tagger gun is a hand held trigger operated device which is constructed to accept fastener stock. A tagger gun usually comprises a plastic housing body with a cylindrical opening into which a hollow needle having a longitudinal slot extending over its length is removably mounted. A clip of fastener stock is inserted into a slot in the housing which extends behind the needle. Actuation of a trigger on the tagger gun causes a plunger, aligned with the cross bar end of the first attachment in the fastener stock, to be displaced forward such that the cross bar end of the first attachment in the stock is forced through the bore in the needle. Some tagger guns are manually operated while other tagger guns are powered by an electric motor or a pneumatic device.
The hollow needle of a tagger gun typically comprises a substantially cylindrical base portion having a front end, a rear end, a side surface, a central bore, a longitudinal slot and a recess on the side surface for accommodating a needle locking shaft. The hollow needle also comprises a stem portion which extends out from the front end of the base portion. The stem portion is a substantially cylindrically shaped needle which includes a sharpened tip, a longitudinal slot in alignment with the longitudinal slot in the base portion, and a central bore in alignment with the central bore in the base portion. A portion of the longitudinal slot proximate to the tip of the stem portion is shaped to define an elongated opening (said portion being commonly referred to as the spoon of the needle) which is greater in size than the cross bar end of the fastener to be dispensed therethrough.
An example of such a needle which can be used as part of a plastic fastener dispensing tool is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,715,984 to C. L. Deschenes. The needle includes a knife portion on the rear end of the base portion. The knife portion includes a cutting edge, the entire length of the cutting edge being in the shape of a xe2x80x9cVxe2x80x9d-shaped notch.
Various types of tagger guns have been developed for use in dispensing individual plastic fasteners from a supply of fastener stock. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,456,123 to D. B. Russell, which is incorporated herein by reference, there is disclosed an apparatus for dispensing fasteners which is manufactured and sold by AVERY DENNISON CORPORATION(copyright) of Pasadena, Calif. as the SYSTEM 1000(copyright) SWIFTACHER(copyright) Tool. The apparatus can be used to store, feed and dispense fastener stock of the type which includes a plurality of connected fasteners, each fastener comprising a flexible filament and a transversely disposed end-bar at one end, end-bars of adjacent fasteners being joined end-to-end by severable connectors at a portion of their peripheries. The apparatus comprises a hollow casing and a dispensing needle mounted to the casing, the needle having a longitudinal bore for slidably receiving the end-bar and a slot communicating with the longitudinal bore slidably receiving the filament. The apparatus also comprises means for advancing a fastener from a first position remote from the needle bore to a second position adjacent the rear end of the bore with the end-bar transversely disposed to the longitudinal axis of the bore, means for aligning the end-bar with the bore and means for dispensing the end-bar through the bore.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved individual plastic fastener for coupling together two or more items and a needle for dispensing the same.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an individual plastic fastener as described above which is aesthetically pleasing.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an individual plastic fastener as described above which can be used in paper stapling applications.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a needle as described above which creates a limited sized opening in the two or more items when inserted therethrough.
It is yet still another object of the present invention to provide an individual plastic fastener and a needle for dispensing the same as described above which have a limited number of parts, which are inexpensive to manufacture and which are easy to use.
Accordingly, as one feature of the present invention, there is provided a fastener for coupling together two or more items, said fastener comprising a connector having a first end and a second end, a first cross-member formed onto the first end of said connector, said first cross-member comprising a flat inner surface and a flat outer surface, and a second cross-member formed onto the second end of said connector.
As another feature of the present invention, there is provided a needle well-suited for use in dispensing a plastic fastener of the type comprising a connector having a first cross-member at a first end thereof, said needle comprising a flat bottom wall, a pair of spaced apart sidewalls which extend orthogonally up from said flat bottom wall, and a pair of flanges, one flange being formed onto and extending orthogonally inward from the free end of each of said pair of sidewalls.
As another feature of the present invention, there is provided the combination of a fastener and a needle, said fastener comprising a connector having a first cross-member at a first end thereof and a second cross-member at a second end thereof, the first cross-member having a flat inner surface and a flat outer surface, said needle terminating in a tip at a front end thereof and being shaped to define a longitudinally-extending bore and a longitudinally-extending slot, said longitudinally-extending bore being dimensioned to receive said first cross-member, said longitudinally-extending slot being dimensioned to permit said connector to extend therethrough while said cross-member is disposed within said longitudinally-extending bore.
Various other features and advantages will appear from the description to follow. In the description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings which form a part thereof, and in which is shown by way of illustration, a specific embodiment for practicing the invention. This embodiment will be described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention, and it is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and that structural changes may be made without departing from the scope of the invention. The following detailed description is therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of the present invention is best defined by the appended claims.